Shaheen, Colleagues Press USDA to Not Take Food Away from Food Banks and Hungry Families
(Washington, DC) — U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee responsible for funding the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), joined U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and 24 of their Senate colleagues in pressing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to explain the reported cancellation of previously-approved funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) for food banks and other emergency food providers. This cancellation would take food away from hungry Americans already facing high grocery prices and hurt American farmers who are being squeezed by tariffs and other cuts to domestic markets.
In the letter, the lawmakers wrote: “We write regarding the reported cancellation of hundreds of millions of dollars in previously approved funding for food banks and other emergency food providers through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). A cancellation of these funds could result in $500 million in lost food provisions to feed millions of Americans at a time when the need for food shelves is extremely high due to costly groceries and an uncertain economy.”
They continued: “If true, this major shift in a program utilized by emergency food providers in every state in the nation will have a significant and damaging impact upon millions of people who depend upon this program for critical food assistance. In addition, this program consists of purchases of U.S. commodities at a time when America’s growers and producers are struggling due to tariffs, proposed tariffs, animal disease and many other challenges.”
The full letter is available here.
In addition to Shaheen and Klobuchar, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jack Reed (D-RI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Mark Warner (D-VA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Chris Coons (D-DE), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Angus King (I-ME), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tina Smith (D-MN), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Andy Kim (D-NJ) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI).
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